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Gonzales v. New Mexico Department Of Health9/27/2000
e amount of $1615. In February 1996, Gonzales filed another motion for default judgment, or, in the alternative, to limit defenses, alleging this time that LVMC had withheld evidence of the existence of another hotline operated by social workers at SM/MMHS. The court did not grant the motion but did award Gonzales costs and attorney's fees of $7968.75 for the motion and hearing.
On December 4, 1996, Gonzales again filed a motion for default judgment or other sanctions alleging LVMC failed to comply with discovery and destroyed evidence. In November 1996, LVMC had informed Gonzales that neither Pullings nor his then supervisor, Dr. Gatling, maintained personal records of their work on the hotline. Pullings stated in a sworn affidavit that he used the notes to prepare monthly statistical reports and then discarded them after completing the reports. Gonzales argued that these notes were medical records that Pullings had a duty to preserve and that they were evidence critical to her case. Their destruction, she alleged, precluded her from learning what work Pullings, Dr. Sturm, and Dr. Gatling had performed for the hotline. LVMC responded that the documents in question were Pullings' personal notes, which he was not required to make or preserve, and that he had discarded any remaining notes after he stopped working on the hotline. The trial court apparently accepted LVMC's explanation; in January 1997, the court denied the motion for default judgment and sanctions as not being well-taken.
The choice of sanctions for abuse of the discovery process falls within the sound discretion of the trial court and will be reversed only for abuse of discretion. Medina v. Foundation Reserve Ins. Co., 117 N.M. 163, 166, 870 P.2d 125, 128 (1994). " he discretion we speak of is fact-based" and "requires us to look at the facts relied on by the trial court as a basis for the exercise of its discretion, to determine if these facts are supported by substantial evidence." Lopez v. Wal- Mart Stores, Inc., 108 N.M. 259, 260, 771 P.2d 192, 193 (Ct. App. 1989).
The trial court did not abuse its discretion. The record shows that LVMC's compliance with discovery was frequently dilatory and perfunctory. But, the record also shows that Gonzales's complaints about the severity of the discovery abuses were often inflated and that her claims as to the probative nature of Pullings' papers were speculative. The sanctions imposed were proportional to the offenses, and those the trial court refused to impose were not warranted by the conduct of the parties. See Gonzales v. Surgidev Corp., 120 N.M. 151, 158, 899 P.2d 594, 601 (1995) (deferring to the trial court's decision about sanctions, absent abuse of discretion).
B. Sufficiency of the Evidence
On appeal, LVMC argues that the trial court erred when it refused to dismiss Gonzales's claim that LVMC took retaliatory action against her after she filed a discrimination complaint with the HRC. LVMC first raised the issue in a motion for summary judgment, arguing that Gonzales had failed to prove a prima facie case because she did not show an adverse employment action on the part of LVMC. LVMC's argument was continued in motions for a directed verdict after the close of evidence by Gonzales and at the close of trial, and in a motion for partial judgment notwithstanding the verdict. All these motions were denied by the trial court.
When a case has been fully tried on the merits, an appellate court reviews the record to determine whether the evidence is sufficient to support the jury's verdict, rather than assessing the sufficiency of the prima facie case. Cf. Wilson Corp. v. State ex rel. Udall, 121 N.M. 677, 686,
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